Carbon‐based flexible self‐supporting cathode for lithium‐sulfur batteries: Progress and perspective

Abstract

The flexible self-supporting electrode can maintain good mechanical and electrical properties while retaining high specific capacity, which meets the requirements of flexible batteries. Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), as a new generation of energy storage system, hold much higher theoretical energy density than traditional batteries, and they have attracted extensive attention from both the academic and industrial communities. Selection of a proper substrate material is important for the flexible self-supporting electrode.Carbon materials, with the advantages of light weight, high conductivity, strong structural plasticity, and low cost, provide the electrode with a large loading space for the active material and a conductive network. This makes the carbon materials meet the mechanical and electrochemical requirements of flexible electrodes. In this paper, the commonly used fabrication methods and recent research progresses of the flexible self-supporting cathode with a carbon material as the substrate are introduced. Various sulfur loading methods are summarized, which provides useful information for the structural design of the cathode. As the first review article of the carbon-based flexible self-supporting LSB cathodes, it provides valuable guidance for the researchers working in the field of LSB.

Exploration of the Unique Structural Chemistry of Sulfur Cathode for High‐Energy Rechargeable Beyond‐Li Batteries

“…A weak interaction between the carbonaceous compounds and polysulfides has failed to restrain the long-chain polysulfides that lead to sluggish kinetics and eventually quick capacity fade. [126,127] Besides using highly effective chemical dopants (e.g., metal and nonmetal dopants), metal-based composites such as metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal phosphides, and others have been explored. [128][129][130][131] [113] Copyright 2020, Wiley-VCH GmbH.…”

Aqueous Zn‐based rechargeable batteries: Recent progress and future perspectives

“…[6][7][8][9] Meanwhile, to meet everincreasing requirements in capacity, metal-based batteries (such as Li-O 2 and Li-S batteries) have also been proposed due to their higher energy density. [10][11][12] Even so, these alkali metal batteries are water-and air-sensitive and thus still present safety concerns and environmental issues. These are usually ascribed to the flammable and volatile aprotic electrolytes.…”

“…Other electrochemical energy systems, such as sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium‐ion batteries (PIBs), have also been reported as possible alternatives to LIBs due to their low cost 6–9 . Meanwhile, to meet ever‐increasing requirements in capacity, metal‐based batteries (such as Li–O 2 and Li–S batteries) have also been proposed due to their higher energy density 10–12 . Even so, these alkali metal batteries are water‐ and air‐sensitive and thus still present safety concerns and environmental issues.…”

Regulating adsorption ability toward polysulfides in a porous carbon/Cu3P hybrid for an ultrastable high‐temperature lithium–sulfur battery

“…18,19 In previous studies, the most common and effective way involved the use of conductive carbon as the carrier to load sulfur in LSBs. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The main reason is that conductive carbon acts as an electronic conductor for the electrochemical reaction of elemental sulfur particles; second, the pore structure of carbon materials inhibits the dissolution of polysulfide ions and thus prevents the shuttle effect. Further, it seems that phosphorus-or nitrogen-doped carbon is more suitable for use to load sulfur as it has a higher adsorption energy for polysulfide than traditional carbon.…”